Katie Musolff

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Spring is in full bloom, here on the river. Life is bursting out from the ground and down from the sky. The pelicans are here in full force, the morels have popped up (although I have only found one), violets cover the forest ground, and the ants are back in the house. Our dog has new things to roll in, Andy and I are sneezing ourselves awake in the morning. Life is happening. And when it is like this, the painting is non stop for me. The area around my paper and paint is dotted with new feathers, egg shells and other little fragile things that demand to all get painting right then and there.

Some good news. Andy and I will be featured in a segment on Milwaukee Public Television, Channel 10 (Milwaukee PBS). It will air for the first time on Friday May 19 at 7:30 pm on the show "10thirtysix". It will be featured in a wonderful magazine program that is called “10thirtysix”. It will air again on Channel 10 on Sunday May 21 at 10:30 am, and on Monday May 22 11:30 pm. A day or two after it airs, the world will also be able to access the entire program on the Milwaukee PBS web site (MilwaukeePBS.org).

Essentially, we were interviewed about our lives as artists, living on the Mississippi River and how we make our lives work. Thanks to Dan Jones for tracking us down, convincing Andy to be on tv and interviewing us.

The gunshots finally stopped yesterday and, just like that, duck hunting season came to an end. And to add to the finale, the temperature plummeted so that the Bay of Stoddard was completely frozen over. There were at least six brave/stupid men out there to testing their fate and getting a leg up on the ice fishing season. Some local folks keep me stocked up on ducks, so I have a box of frozen specimens in the garage. It won't be above freezing for weeks, so there's no rush.

I wanted to thank everyone for a successful year. This one has been especially hard because of family turmoil. I am sorry I had to cancel so many shows and commitments. But let me say, everyone was very sympathetic and forgiving. On top of it all, the shows I did have went great. Andy and I started working with Tory Folliard Gallery and our work has gone over extremely well there.

So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays. Let's take this time to come together. We've been so ripped apart.

Katie Musolff and Lynne Railsback are two watercolor painters who depict the natural world in delicate and intricate detail. Musolff’s paintings of butterflies, birds, bugs, and other creatures have an Audubon-esque quality. Railsback approaches her work with a botanist’s eye, creating a colorful canon of paintings of flowers, leaves, roots, and branches. This exhibition celebrates the organic world with precision and beauty.

Ah, yes, it has been a trying year so far but now I am beginning to thaw out from the obstacles that life granted my family. Every one seems to have survived and now it's time for me to get back to work, which feels good. Better than good. My paintings are more intense, more precise. Perhaps it's a way of gaining a sense of control..... like scrubbing down the oven. (I should do that too). New work is pouring out of me, which is necessary because the art festival season has started.

You can see the newest of the new at Chicago's Old Town Art Fair on June 11-12 and Milwaukee's Lakefront Festival of the Arts on June 17-19. (More pictures coming)

This is Andy's and my first show at Tory Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee Wisconsin. We delivered over 70 paintings that we've made in the last year. We are thrilled to have our work in such a great space. May this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.